Christmas Past
by DolbyDigital
Summary: They had shared a lot of Christmases together over the years. Those were some of his best memories took place during that season. Some of his worst, too.


**A/N –** This was written for QL Round 10, a relationship between family members. I also had the optional prompts [word] Careless and [quote] 'Out of the millions and millions of people that inhabit this planet, he is one of the tiny few I can never have.' – Tabitha Suzuma, _Forbidden_.

Their daughter's names are from the two actresses who played Hermione's parents, because it's 3am and I'm too tired to think of original names. Also, I'm really bad at maths so some of the dates might be a little off.

* * *

Christmas 2022

"Why does he have to stay _here_?" Rose whined, tipping her head back to rest it on the back of the sofa and pulling an expression clearly intended to convey as much disgust as humanly possible.

"Why do _you_ have to stay here? You have your own home."

"I am _family_ ," she gasped, mock offended. "You've _got_ to put up with me."

"Scorpius is family," Albus insisted.

"In what world is Scorpius _Malfoy_ family?"

"He's my best friend. That makes him practically family."

" _Practically_ family. Not _actually_ family," she said with a tone of finality.

"Actually, I think you are related," a disembodied voice called from the other room.

"What?" Rose yelled back.

"Oh, Teddy's here," Albus said. "Not sure if I mentioned..."

"You didn't," Rose told him primly, before raising her voice to speak to Teddy once more. " _How_ are we related to a _Malfoy_?"

"Yeah, he's almost my cousin. Something like that. I think his dad was my mum's cousin," Teddy's voice came from the other room.

"That doesn't explain how he's related to us!" Rose yelled.

"Let me finish! Lily worked out I'm related to you, so _you_ must be related to him."

" _Seriously_?" Rose's screech echoed through the house.

"Will you all please _stop yelling,_ " Ginny's angry shout was clearly audible from upstairs.

"Sorry, Mum," Albus yelled, at the same time as Teddy and Rose yelled:

"Sorry, Aunty Ginny."

"So we're not that closely related, then," Rose turned to Albus as she spoke. "The kind of family whose arse you can appreciate."

"Wow, Rose. Even I think that's weird." Teddy stuck his head through the doorway, startling them both.

* * *

"Is your cousin going to be here the entire time?" Scorpius asked.

"How should I know? She just turned up. No one invited her. No one invited Teddy, but that's not stopping him from eating all our food and napping on the sofa."

"Yeah, I saw. But is Rose staying?"

"What is your obsession with my cousin, anyway?"

"Out of the millions and millions of people that inhabit this planet, she is one of the tiny few I can never have."

"One of the tiny few? Seriously? Do you honestly think that highly of yourself?"

"Yes."

" _Seriously?"_

"The numbers speak for themselves."

"I'm not sure how proud of that you should be."

* * *

"Hey, Al, I- Oh." Rose stopped in the doorway to her cousin's bedroom, staring at the figure curled up under a mess of blankets on the floor. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Well, I _was_ sleeping," came the groggy reply.

"Where's Albus?"

"How should I know?" Scorpius dragged himself off the floor and into Albus' empty bed, falling down in a careless heap, somehow managing to fall asleep almost as soon as he was lying down.

 _Lazy tosser_ ; it was almost noon.

* * *

"You need to teach your cousin some boundaries," Scorpius complained yet again.

"For waking you up?"

"Yes."

"I thought you _wanted_ ," Albus gave an involuntary shudder at the word, "her."

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

"You said something about millions of girls and Rose being one of the tiny few," Albus muttered, no longer fully paying attention to the conversation.

"I didn't say I _wanted_ her. Just that I couldn't have her. Mostly because she's the most annoying person I've ever met," he replied offhandedly.

"Yeah, sure."

* * *

Christmas 2025

"Move in with me?"

"What?"

"You heard," Rose said, glaring at Scorpius. "Unless you want to live with your parents forever."

"Yeah, er... no- I mean... Aren't I supposed to ask you?"

"Excuse you?"

"No, I mean- I was _going_ to ask you."

"To move in with your parents?" she asked incredulously, giving her boyfriend a look which clearly showed how stupid she thought that idea was.

"No! _Merlin,_ no! My Mum's _mental_." Rose gave him a strange look, prompting him to quickly add, "and it would be weird."

"I'm starting to rethink this," Rose muttered, mostly to herself.

* * *

Christmas 2029

After hours of waiting – or, extreme effort and pain on Rose's part – Scorpius was finally holding his baby girl. Her face was an angry shade of red, but she was sleeping peacefully enough.

"What should we name her?" he whispered; it was almost as if talking too loudly would shatter this perfect moment.

"I was thinking... Heather. After Grandma Granger."

He looked down at the baby, stroking his finger gently through the light dusting of hair upon her head.

"Yeah... Yeah, I like that."

* * *

Christmas 2032

He paced the garden nervously, leaving a trail of footprints in the light dusting of snow.

"Daddy?" a small voice asks from the doorway.

"Heather! It's cold outside-"

"You're outside," the little girl said with a frown.

"Yeah, well... Why don't you get Mummy and she'll help you with your coat and shoes?"

"No. You do it, Daddy."

With a sigh, he followed his daughter back into the house. He was on his knees zipping up her winter coat when Rose walked into the room.

"Scorpius? Are you going somewhere?" He startled slightly, looking up at Rose with wide eyes.

"Um..." he leant over and whispered something into their daughter's ear.

"Mummy." Heather walked over to her mum. "Daddy said to give you this."

She held up a small blue box.

* * *

Christmas 2035

"And, to think! If I hadn't been there, none of this would be happening!" Albus loudly proclaimed, cheeks flushed from both the cold and slightly too much alcohol.

"How'd you figure that?" Rose asked.

"Well, you were always telling me how much of a twat Scorpius was. And he thought you were annoying and stuck-up and-"

"Okay, that's enough," Scorpius appeared at Albus' other side, taking the half empty glass from his hand.

" _And what_?" Roses' voice was hard, cold, and it sent a shiver up Scorpius' spine.

"You thought I was a twat!" he tried to defend himself.

"You _were_ a twat. You're _still_ a twat."

"Oh, come now," Albus threw an arm around each of their shoulders, leaning heavily on the newly married couple. "There's no need for that! This is your _wedding_ day! You shouldn't be talking about such things. And look," he gestured towards a child at the other end of the large room. "Look at that beautiful girl you made!"

"That's Victoire's daughter."

"I'm pretty sure it's a boy, actually."

* * *

Christmas 2041

"Heather!" Rose pulled their daughter into a tight hug, burying her face in her messy blonde hair.

" _Mum_!" Heather whined, pushing her away. "People can _see_ us!"

"Yes, but everyone's too preoccupied with themselves to notice what you're doing right now," Scorpius said. "Kind of like how I'm now carrying your trunk, these three random bags full of stuff that I know you didn't own three months ago, _and_ your owl, and how you clearly haven't noticed how difficult that might be."

"Scorpius, stop complaining," Rose admonished. "We haven't seen her in _three_ months."

"Well, _someone_ could help," Scorpius muttered.

"There," Rose said, taking the owl cage from him with one hand and holding Heather's hand in the other. "You've got the rest?"

* * *

Christmas 2043

"Mum! Dad!" They could hear their daughter before they could see her as she pushed through the crowded station to meet them. "Where is she?" she asked excitedly.

"What? You don't want to see us?" Scorpius pulled his eldest daughter into a hug which was only half-heartedly reciprocated.

"I see you _all the time_. I want to see the baby!" Her eyes quickly landed on the small bundle in her mum's arms. "Is that her? That's her, isn't it? Can I hold her?"

* * *

Christmas 2046

"Mum, Dad. This is Tom."

"Tom, it's lovely to finally meet you," Rose smiled at the boy. "We've heard so much about you." She dug her elbow into Scorpius' side when he remained silent, scowling at the teenager and managing to look vaguely threatening even with a toddler balanced on his hip.

"Yes," he said the word slowly, calculatingly. "Lovely to meet you," his tone was far too oily to be pleasent.

"You too, Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy," the boy spoke in a rush, offering his right hand to Scorpius. Scorpius looked down at the baby held firmly to his side with his right arm then back up at the boy.

"Oh, you're so sweet," Rose pulled Tom into a hug before Scorpius could give voice to his thoughts. "We're so happy you could stay with us for the holidays."

She very pointedly ignored everything Scorpius was muttering under his breath as she led the boy into the living room.

* * *

Christmas 2050

"Rose? Are you alright?" Scorpius asked, concern for his wife evident in his tone.

"I'm fine," she replied with a tired smile. "It's just a headache, is all."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Stop worrying." Her expression brightened as their youngest daughter entered the room. "We've got presents to open."

"Yeah!" The little girl grinned up at her mother, bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly. "And is Heather gonna come?"

"She'll be here by lunch time." Scorpius momentarily pushed his worry to the side and followed his daughter into the living room.

"Santa came! And look, Mummy, I get to open _all_ these presents!"

"I don't think they're _all_ yours, Michelle." Rose lowered herself onto the sofa with a wince.

"But I was _really_ good!"

* * *

Christmas 2052

They'd made a mistake. _That_ was why this was happening. Because of a _mistake._ They hadn't spotted it soon enough, and now it was _killing her_.

He held onto her hand – cold now where it should have been warm – heir veins standing out prominently under her skin. She was too thin; too pale. Barely breathing.

 _She was too young_.

* * *

Christmas 2058

The baby slept peacefully in Scorpius' arms. It was only fitting that his first grandchild should be born near Christmas; it was a time that had meant so much to them.

It had been hard without her – and for the longest time, he'd hated the holiday – but he'd managed to pull through, because even with her gone, he was never truly alone.


End file.
